“Are you really teaching them to fight better?” Ana asked. “They are thieves.”
“How right you are, my lady. It’s time to end this.” Spinning in a circle, I caught the arm of my opponent between my torso and my own arm just as he thrust the sword. As I twisted his wrist, the sword dropped into my hand. I turned and held it beneath his chin. Then I glanced up at the young man hidden above us. He’d been preparing to leap on top of me. “If you’re smart, you’ll stay where you are,” I said.
The young thief froze in place. Ana looked up and smiled at him. “As the leader of this company, you are responsible for their actions. Do you surrender to us?”
The young man threw down a knife. It was a beautiful dagger. One an emperor might wear. I picked it up and ran my thumb down along the edge. “We’ll keep your token as payment for the injustice done to us this day,” I said. “Remember to pick your marks more wisely in the future. Looks can be deceiving. Now run off and lick your wounds.”
We left the alley behind and kept on. “You shouldn’t have let them go so easily,” Anamika said.
“They were just misguided boys,” I answered her.
“Perhaps. But misguided boys turn into hateful, cruel men.”
“Not all of them.”
“All it takes is one,” she said softly. “The sword of brutality is honed on the whetstone of hardship—turn the hilt one way and you see suffering, both on the part of the wielder as well as that of his victims. On the other side, you’ll find contempt for self and others.”
“But you forget that hardship also makes heroes. Some rise above and become better because of it.”
Anamika turned away from me to look straight ahead. “Most heroes are simply villains who haven’t yet revealed their true nature.”
“I don’t believe that, Ana. And frankly, I’m surprised you do.”
“There is much you don’t know about me, Kishan.”
I nudged her with my arm. “What happened to Sohan? Or do you think me a villain now too?”
She looked up at me. “I do not think you are a villain. Nor do I think you are a hero.”
“Then what am I?” I asked.
“You are just…my tiger,” she answered.
I wasn’t sure what to make of her answer or if it was a good thing or a bad thing for her to think of me in such a way. Anamika didn’t necessarily enjoy playing the part of a goddess though she loved being of help to people. She was formidable in battle, but she struck me as more of a mother bear defending her young than as a vengeful goddess.
It would certainly be easier to make my life decisions based on the instincts of a tiger, but I was more than that. Kelsey would have had no trouble assuring me of my heroic status, but in a way, it was nice that Ana didn’t assign me that role. It was almost as if she didn’t expect anything from me. She let me be what I wanted to be in that moment, whether it was a man, a tiger, a hero, a companion…even a villain.
Not that I was anywhere close to Lokesh, but wasn’t it villainous of me to consider taking away Kelsey’s happy ending? The definition of a bad guy was that he wanted to get the things he desired no matter the cost to others. It would be so easy for me to turn back time and destroy the love that existed between Ren and Kelsey. I had the power to pave a path directly to her heart. But didn’t love require sacrificing?
My thoughts were interrupted when our young guide stopped and pointed to a gated home. “This is the factory and the household of the silk maker,” he announced.
“Very good,” I said. “Ana will give you a coin for your trouble.”
She crouched down and touched her fingertip to the nose of the boy. “Perhaps I can offer you something more than a coin,” she said.
“What’s that?” the boy asked hesitantly, his voice croaking in a girlish way, a sign that he was embarking on the transformation from boy to man. My thoughts drifted back to the time when I was in his position—a twelve-year-old youngster, looking with hope at Ana.
“How would you like to come work for me?” she asked.
I put my hand on her arm. “Are you sure?” I murmured.
“I have looked into the heart of this young one. He is brave and true. And the silk seller is not your father, is he?” she said.
The boy shook his head. Grimly, he said, “He is my master. I do not think he will sell me at any cost.”
“Then we won’t buy you,” Ana said. “We’ll steal you like those thieves.”
The boy’s eyes widened gravely. “No. You cannot do such a thing. He will find me and punish me!”
“He cannot find you where I would send you.” She placed her palm on his cheek and crooned, letting a little of her power light her skin. “Can you find it within to trust me?” she asked.
He nodded, a lovesick expression on his face.
“Good. Hold on to my hand and I will use my power to whisk you away to my home. You will find a servant there; his name is Bhavin. Tell him that you are to be his apprentice and you will serve the goddess personally. I promise I will come and see to your settling in very soon.”
“Yes, lady.”
Xing-Xing bowed over Anamika’s hand, and she clutched the amulet with her other one, whispering the words that would send the boy back to our mountaintop palace.
After he disappeared, I folded my arms across my chest. “Are you going to make a habit of collecting young men to fall at your feet?” I drawled.
“I did not choose to keep him for vanity’s sake. His situation necessitated my intervention.”
Sighing, I said, “You’re a light touch, Ana.”
“What does this mean?”
“It means you are easily persuaded.”
“On the contrary. It is difficult to persuade me.”
I took one step closer, rising to the challenge in her eyes. She froze stiffly but didn’t move as I gave a guttural growl and lowered my head to her neck. Closing my eyes, I inhaled her intoxicating scent, my chest rumbling as I grazed the line of her jaw lightly with my stubbled cheek. It only took a few seconds before I felt her hands on my chest, pushing me away.
“It appears you are right,” I said, moving back readily. “You are very difficult to persuade, that is, if a man is making the attempt. I think I would have had an easier time befriending you as a boy.”
“Friends do not”—she gestured toward her throat—“touch one another in such a manner.”
She pressed her fingers to her neck as if trying to brush off my feathery touch.
“Why are you so frightened of me?” I asked. Even though she was closed off to me, I could sense her roiling emotions.
“I am not frightened. I simply do not wish to indulge your habits of…of caressing women.”
“Despite what you think, I do not go around caressing women.”
Sighing, Ana said, “Can we not discuss this later? I would like to complete this task before I am summoned again.”
After a moment, I nodded and she picked up a dangling mallet and hit the gong by the gate. It gave off a silvery sort of mellifluous sound. An old man appeared almost instantly. I wondered how much he’d overheard.
“What is it you want?” he asked.
“We have come on a matter of some urgency,” Anamika said, in what I believed was too animated a voice. She was still nervous. Without invasively reading her or her telling me, there was no way to know why. Ana continued, “We believe your master’s life is in danger.”
Chapter 13
Silk Liberated
“My master?” the man asked, his voice low-pitched. “To what danger are you referring?”
“We have reason to believe that the emperor seeks his life.”